The Unauthorized Trekkers’ Guide to the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine

Although Worf is still very aggressive by nature, he is able to control his anger even when he feels he has been provoked. As a bridge officer, and the third in the line of command after Picard and Riker, Worf takes his duties very seriously. In combat situations, when the Enterprise or its crew is threatened, Worf instinctively wants to respond in kind and confront the menace head-on. The Klingon Empire does not stress cool deliberation as the preferred method for problem solving.

Worf rarely talks about himself and his culture, but in “Justice” Riker inadvertently gets Worf to talk about Klingon sexual attitudes. When Riker wonders why Worf is not enjoying the pleasures offered by the sybaritic Edo, Worf explains, quite casually, that only Klingon women could survive sex with a Klingon male. When Riker wonders if this is simply bragging, Worf is confused. He was merely stating a simple fact of Klingon life.

Eventually, Worf did renew a long-unconsummated relationship with the half-human K’Ehleyr, who came back into his life as a Federation emissary. Their encounter in “The Emissary” produced a son, but unfortunately K’Ehleyr was murdered in “Reunion,” a crime that provoked Worf to a bloody and time-honored Klingon revenge. His son now lives with his Earth grandparents, since Worf’s status in the Klingon Empire had at one point become a precarious one.

UNFAIR BLAME

Years after Worf’s rescue, the Klingons captured a Romulan ship whose records revealed the identity of the Klingon who betrayed the outpost. This Klingon was a member of a very powerful family, and his son was an important Klingon, so the Klingon High Council decided to avoid societal disruption by altering the records and blaming Worf’s father for the crime.

They did not believe that Worf still kept the Klingon ways, or that he would even learn of this dishonor. They were unaware that he had a younger brother who had been secretly raised by another family. Worf’s brother contacted Worf, drawing him into the Machiavellian intrigues of Klingon power politics. Ultimately, Worf underwent discommendation rather than let his brother be killed. This act corroborated his father’s guilt to outside eyes, but also gave him time to set matters right. He had already scored one victory, for his enemy in this matter was also the killer of his mate. Worf’s family honor was restored in “Redemption I & II” when he aided Gowron in a Klingon civil war.

It seems that Worf may turn out to be a key factor in Klingon-Federation relations. Klingons as a rule do not feel comfortable with humans, often holding them in contempt, and there may be a faction (see “The Drumhead”) that favors improved relations with the Romulans. Even though Klingons have a deeply ingrained hatred of Romulans, they understand them better than humans, whose manners and motivations often must seem strange to the warrior Klingons. Worf occupies a unique position between these two cultures, and may provide the key to future developments between them.

MICHAEL DORN

As a longtime Star Trek fan, Dorn says that this role “was a dream come true. First, because I’m a Trekkie, and second, I’m playing a Klingon, a character so totally different from the nice-guy roles I’d done in the past. Worf is the only Klingon aboard the Enterprise. That makes him an outsider, but that’s okay by me because Worf knows he’s superior to these weak humans. But he never lets the other crew members see that, because he’s a soldier first and second.”

The actor gives enthusiastic praise to series creator Gene Roddenberry for having the “genius and vision” to depict an optimistic future in which a peaceful alliance could be struck between Earth and the Klingon Empire. “Gene believed there is good in everybody—even Klingons!”

But the actor enjoys playing very different kinds of characters, and knows what it’s like to appear in a series after playing a regular on CHIPS for three years. “I love doing cop roles, and as a highway patrolman I got to drive fast and never got hurt.”

Dorn hails from Liling, Texas, but he was raised in Pasadena, California, just minutes away from Hollywood. He performed in a rock band during high school and college and in 1973 moved to San Francisco, where he worked at a variety of jobs. When he returned to L.A., he continued playing in rock bands until a friend’s father, an assistant director of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, suggested the young man try his hand at acting. Dorn can be seen in the background, as a newswriter, in episodes from that classic comedy’s last two seasons.

“I had done a little modeling by this time and had studied drama and TV producing in college. Once I started, I caught the bug.”

THE HUMBLE START

His first acting role was a guest spot on the series WEB, a show based on the satirical film Network. Dorn was introduced to an agent by the producer of the show and began studying with Charles Conrad. Six months later Dorn was cast in CHIPS. Following that series, Dorn resumed acting classes. “I worked very hard; the jobs started coming and the roles got meatier.”

Dorn has made guest appearances on nearly every major series, most notably Hotel, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest. He has also had recurring roles on Days of Our Lives and Capitol. His feature film credits include Demon Seed, Rocky, and The Jagged Edge.

Dorn hopes eventually to direct, but for now, “I want to take one step at a time and do the best work I can do.” He’s still interested in rock music, plays in a band, does studio work as a bass player, and writes music in his spare time.

DOCTOR BEVERLY CRUSHER (#ulink_13a497dc-6653-5c7f-adae-829a64cbb1c2)

Beverly Crusher worked long and hard to secure her posting aboard the Enterprise, where she is stationed along with her brilliant son, Wesley. Beverly’s husband, Jack Crusher, was killed while serving under Captain Picard aboard the USS Stargazer. Jack Crusher died saving Picard’s life, and to show his respect for the man, Picard accompanied the body back to Earth when it was returned for the funeral.

While Beverly knows that it is not logical to blame Picard, she associated him with her loss and was not, at first, certain how she would react to working with Picard. When Picard offered to have her transferred if she so desired, she declined, since she wouldn’t have been there if she hadn’t requested the position. Any initial misgivings have given way to mutual respect and understanding.

Dr. Crusher chose to sign aboard the starship commanded by Picard because she had an enviable Starfleet record that had earned her this prestigious assignment. As demonstrated by the position held by Dr. McCoy on the Enterprise commanded by James T. Kirk, a starship’s chief medical officer is in no way regarded as a rank inferior to that of Captain. In fact, outside of a court martial, the CMO is the only force capable of removing a starship captain from his or her post.

Beverly is an intelligent and strong-willed diagnostician. She has a profound sense of medicine, the kind of skill that takes years to develop. Often she uses her diagnostic skills to confirm what she has already seen and sensed about a patient’s condition. First and foremost she is a brilliant ship’s doctor.

THE TRUTH REVEALED

In “The Naked Now” there were many truths revealed about various crew members. In Crusher’s case it was revealed that she is interested in Picard, and certainly no longer harbors the suspicion and resentment she feared might affect her job performance. Being in her late thirties to early forties, the attractive Dr. Crusher has not escaped the notice of Captain Picard, but it is doubtful that this could develop into anything, as any good officer knows that complications arise when key personnel become involved.

Dr. Crusher’s most difficult moments on the Enterprise generally involve Wesley, as in “Justice,” when Wesley was sentenced to death for an inadvertent crime, only to be saved by Picard’s intervention. She has also been trapped in a false reality inside a static warp field, which she narrowly escaped from, and recently found romance only to have it shattered by the bizarre secrets of the alien humanoid she’d fallen for in “The Host.”

Her most difficult time with Wesley occurred in “The First Duty,” when Wesley narrowly escaped death in a training exercise off Saturn, in which another cadet did die. Her son admitted to participating in a coverup of the accident. While Wesley Crusher did the right thing at the end, he was humiliated in front of all of his Starfleet Academy peers and was forced to repeat his final year at the Academy.

GATES MCFADDEN

Dr. Crusher is the first regular role in a television series for actress Gates McFadden. Her character is presented with more background than most of the others, as she is the mother of Wesley Crusher, and the widow of the man who died while saving Picard’s life on an earlier mission.

Gates trained to be a dancer when quite young, while growing up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. “I had extraordinary teachers: one was primarily a ballerina and the other had been in a circus. I grew up thinking most ballerinas knew how to ride the unicycle, tap dance, and do handsprings. Consequently, I was an oddball to other dancers.”

Her interest in acting was sparked by community theater and a touring Shakespeare company. “When I was ten, my brother and I attended back-to-back Shakespeare for eight days in a musty, nearly empty theater. There were twelve actors who played all the parts. I couldn’t get over it—the same people in costumes every day, but playing new characters. It was like visiting somewhere but never wanting to leave.”

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Brandeis University while continuing to study acting, dance, and mime. Just prior to graduation she met Jack LeCoq and credits the experience with changing her life.

“I attended his first workshop in the United States. His theatrical vision and the breadth of its scope were astonishing. I left for Paris as soon as possible to continue to study acting with LeCoq at his school. We worked constantly in juxtapositions. One explored immobility in order to better understand movement. One explored silence in order to better understand sound and language. It was theatrical research involving many mediums. Just living in a foreign country where you have to speak and think in another language cracks your head open. It was both terrifying and freeing. Suddenly I was taking more risks in my acting.”

A WOMAN OF MANY TALENTS

McFadden lives in New York City, where she has been involved in film and theater both as an actress and director-choreographer. Her acting credits include leads in the New York productions of Michael Brady’s To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Mary Gallagher’s How to Say Goodbye, Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9, and, in California, in the La Jolla Playhouse production of The Matchmaker with Linda Hunt.

Gates was the director of choreography and puppet movement for the late Jim Henson’s Labyrinth and assisted Gavin Miller in the staging of the fantasy sequences for Dreamchild. “Those films were my baptism by fire into the world of special effects and computerized props,” Gates reveals.

Following the first season of Next Generation, Gates was inexplicably dropped from the cast and just as inexplicably returned in the third season, after her role as ship’s doctor had been played for one season by Diana Muldaur. During her absence from the series, among other work Gates had a small role in The Hunt for Red October as the wife of the main character. She did not repeat this role in Patriot Games, the second film to feature the Jack Ryan character, as a younger actress was chosen for the part in the 1992 sequel.

LT. COMMANDER DEANNA TROI (#ulink_c2565c32-4f76-501c-8096-b80e3b6ebeb4)

Deanna Troi is the ship’s counselor. This position didn’t exist during the time of the first starship Enterprise seventy-five years before. In the twenty-fourth century it has been realized that the success of a starship’s mission depends as much on efficiently functioning human relationships as it does on the vessel staying in one piece and having fully functional warp drive.

Counselor Troi is fully trained in human and alien psychology. When a starship encounters alien life forms, the counselor is crucial to the captain and Number One.

While twentieth-century psychiatry and psychology are considered to be more arts than empirical science, in the twenty-fourth century, solid evidence and medical research have radically changed things. Psychiatry has become a field of applied science in which hard evidence has replaced guesswork, supposition, and mere practiced insight. Command ranks aboard starships both respect and actively make use of the skills of the counselor in much the same way that they solicit advice from the medical officers, chief engineer, and other shipboard specialists. With the commissioning of the Galaxy-class starships, with the added complexities of families and the presence of children, the Counselor is in even more demand.

A Starfleet graduate, Deanna is half human and half Betazoid. Her father was a Starfleet officer who lived on Betazed with one of that world’s humanoid females. Her mother Lwaxana is an aristocratic eccentric who provides Deanna with acute embarrassment whenever she appears onboard the Enterprise. She is insistent on pursuing Captain Picard (she thinks he has great legs), or whatever other male she sets her eyes on.

While Lwaxana and all other full Betazoids are fully telepathic, Deanna has telepathic abilities limited to the emotional range; she can “read” feelings and sensations, but not coherent thoughts. Another extreme example of Betazoid ability is the hypersensitive Tam Elbrun, who vanished with the space-faring being dubbed “Tin Man” by the Federation. While most Betazoids develop their full telepathic abilities during adolescence, Elbrun was born with them fully functional, which led him to seek the solitude of space. He was, in fact, Deanna’s patient at one time, but she was not able to do much for him.

OFTEN AWAY

Due to her particular training and inherent abilities, Counselor Troi is often selected as an Away Team member, as she can provide important insights into the motives and feelings of the beings they must deal with.

(Some beings, notably the Ferengi, are impervious even to full telepaths. While some races may be able to intentionally block their minds, the Ferengi probably are resistant due to peculiarities of their brain structure.)

Generally, when dealing with alien life, Deanna can sense something of the moods or attitudes that a being harbors toward Federation representatives. In the case of the Traveler (“Where No One Has Gone Before”) she could detect nothing from him, as if he wasn’t even there. With humans she is able to sense more when it is a person she has some sort of rapport or relationship with.

For instance, Troi was acquainted with William Riker before either was posted to the Enterprise. Neither knew the other had been assigned to this starship until they first encountered one another on board. While Troi did no feel she could become deeply involved with Riker again, she did find their affair meaningful and pleasant. It has not progressed any further, as each feels honor bound to maintain a disciplined and professional status while aboard ship.

MARINA SIRTIS

A British actress, Marina Sirtis worked in various roles in England for years before she decided to give the colonies a try. She landed the continuing role of Deanna Troi after being in America only six months. “It’s taken me years to become an overnight success,” she quips. “I had a six-month visa, which was quickly running out. In fact, I got the call telling me I had the part only hours before I was to leave for the airport to return home.”

Marina enjoys the irony of being a British actress playing an alien on American television But viewers won’t notice a British accent coming out of an alien being, as she’s devised a combination of accents for the character to use. Sirtis states, “In the twenty-fourth century, geographical or national barriers are not so evident. The Earth as a planet is your country, your nationality. I didn’t want anyone to be able to pin down my accent to any particular country, and being good at accents, the producers trusted me to come up with something appropriate.”